5G Trial Overview (FY2017)
Connected cars, Construction Equipment Remote Operation,
Transmission of High Resolution Video from Drones
Akira Matsunaga

Senior Director
Mobile Network Technical Development Division
KDDI CORPORATION

Satoshi Nakano

Assistant Manager
Next Generation Network Development Department
Mobile Network Technical Development Division
KDDI CORPORATION

1 Introduction

3 Assumed use cases and test details

In preparation for implementation of 5th Generation mobile
communication systems (5G), the Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Communications (MIC) began 5G Trials in FY2017.
The authors, together with other collaborating organizations,participated in a group conducting trials of applications using
5G low-latency communication, measuring radio propagation
characteristics and evaluating performance of 5G, generally andin applications, using the 4.5 GHz and 28 GHz bands in urban
and suburban areas. This article reports on the results of these
activities.

The assumed use cases and test details are described below.
3.1 Connected car (Figure 1)
In the use case studied, a server application receiving
instructions from an operator instructs the on-board camera ina vehicle travelling below 60 km/h to record images of a moving
object. This application requires a low-latency transmission
channel to minimize the time between when the operator issues
the instruction and when video capture begins, to minimizechanges in relative positions of the camera and subject duringthat time. Tests of transmission from the vehicle were conductedduring FY2017.

2 Sample applications, locations, andfrequencies used in trials
Trials with three applications: Connected car, ICT
Construction, and Drone aerial photography; were conducted asshown in Table 1.
■ Table 1: Sample applications
Sampleapplications

Connected car

ICT Construction
Drone aerialphotography

Environment

Demonstration
location

Frequency

Urban
SuburbanTokyoAichi Prefecture

4.5 GHz28 GHzUrban

Tokyo
Kanagawa Prefecture

28 GHzSuburban

Saitama Prefecture

28 GHz3.2 ICT Construction (Figure 2)
Due to the demand for rapid recovery after severe naturalor other disasters and the need to rebuild social infrastructure,and considering the social issue of declining numbers of skilledlaborers, there is increasing anticipation placed on construction
robots and remote operation of equipment. In this application,
video captured by 4K 3D cameras installed on constructionequipment and multiple overhead HD cameras is transmittedusing 5G to a remote control room, where operators watch thevideo and operate the equipment remotely. Current remote control
systems use Wi-Fi, but the high capacity and low latency of 5G
makes use of high-resolution video possible and is expected toincrease efficiency of remote operation. In FY2017, field tests■ Figure 1: Connected car application

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■ Figure 2: ICT construction application

conducted in a simulated construction environment quantitatively
demonstrated the effectiveness of 5G by comparing remote control
through both Wi-Fi and 5G.
3.3 Drone photography (Figure 3)
The objective of this use case is to use 5G to transmit 4K videofrom a drone during an event or disaster. Preliminary studies,evaluations, and selection of issues when using 4G were done inFY2017.

4 Trial results
4.1 Connected car
Trials were conducted in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, andIchinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture (Figures 4, 5).
The results of 4.5 GHz transmission tests conducted inIchinomiya City are shown in Figure 6. The downlink throughput
using a bandwidth of 100 MHz and a 1:1 ratio for up and down-link time intervals was almost 300 Mbps. In the environmental
conditions for these tests, the median value for one-way delay on
the radio segment was 0.935 ms, which is less that the 1 ms targetvalue.
The results of 28 GHz measurements are shown in
Figure 7. The median delay value was 0.915 ms, confirming
low latency communication similar to the 4.5 GHz case. A
comparison of the 4.5 GHz and 28 GHz cases is shown in
Figure 8. In the driving routes shown in Figure 9, the Section 2
driving area is the same for both bands. The sections indicatedin red in Figure 8 show that 4.5 GHz is more resistant todegradation of throughput due to the environment.
4.2 ICT Construction
To compare working efficiency when using Wi-Fi and 5G, thetime required to stack three blocks was measured using varioussystems. (See Figures 10, 11, and 12)■ Figure 3: Drone aerial photography application■ Figure 4: Test area in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo10

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■ Figure 5: Test area in Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture■ Figure 6: 4.5 GHz transmission test results(Ichinomiya area)■ Figure 7: 28 GHz transmission test results(Ichinomiya area)■ Figure 8: C omparison of 4.5 GHz and 28 GHz(Shinjuku area)■ Figure 9: Driving routes■ Figure 10: B lock stacking testoverview■ Figure 11: B lock stacking testphotograph■ Figure 12: Machinery configurations

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■ Figure 13: B lock stacking test results■ Figure 14: Drone aerial photography test configuration

Configurations using the conventional method (Wi-Fi)
and 5G are shown in Figure 12. To reduce differences between
the environments, the number of cameras and distance to theremote control room was the same. The conventional system used
2K video, while the 5G system used naked-eye 3D 4K video,
comparing based on image quality. The remote control systemused Specified Low-power Radio.
In the experiments, the same operator alternated between thetwo test environments and compared them with consideration for
how work time decreased as they gained practice. Assuming an
exponential approximation, the expected time for an experienced
user would be 276 s on the Wi-Fi system, and 177 s on the 5Gsystem, reducing work time by a third (Figure 13).

12

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4.3 Drone aerial photography
As shown in Figure 14, video captured with 4K and 720p
cameras mounted on a drone was transmitted to a server using
a 4G terminal mounted on the drone, and the transmission
delay and throughput were measured. 4K video resulted in delayof approximately 30 s, confirming that transmission would be
difficult using 4G.

5 Conclusion
This article has described 5G performance evaluations forapplication use cases in 5G trials conducted by the MIC.